Access to Justice in Times of Crisis: Experiences from Family Proceedings during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Switzerland

The COVID-19 pandemic, which put pressure on the entire justice system in Switzerland as elsewhere, has drastically and critically complicated access to justice. In family law, separating and divorcing individuals with minor children who were already in an unstable situation experienced increased material and emotional vulnerability.

To avoid delays and deal with emergencies, the Swiss government opened up the use of remote hearings in civil cases, as it was the case in other countries. While digital justice has several advantages (e.g. speed, cost reduction), it also raises several practical and ethical concerns (e.g. technology, confidentiality). Given the federal organisation of the Swiss justice system, the use of remote hearings and the associated social distancing measures have been uneven across the different cantonal civil courts, leading to an inequality in access to justice.

This interdisciplinary project entitled "The practice of family law during the COVID-19 pandemic: digital justice and gender inequalities" aims to investigate the practices and challenges associated with the shift to digital justice during the COVID-19 pandemic in family proceedings in Switzerland, with a focus on separations and divorces. It consists of a legal text study of the changes in Switzerland with an international comparison (1), coupled with a qualitative study of three case studies of court practices (2) and a quantitative survey of family judges and lawyers (3). Based on these three types of data, this presentation focuses on professionals' practices to understand how they have contributed to mitigating/increasing/decreasing gender and social inequalities in access to justice during a major crisis.